Bracket for concrete-forms



SePt- 10, 1957 J. R. DIXON l BRACKET FOR CONCRETE-FORMS Filed Jan. 25,1954 e JOSEPH R. @Ixo y HJEENTUR.

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United States PatentY 2,895,833 Patented Sept. Y10, 1957 BRACKET FOR CONCRE'I'E-FRMS Joseph R. Dixon, Anchorage, Territory of Alaska ApplicationJanuary 25, 1954, Serial No. 405,832

1 Claim. (Cl. 24S- 248) This invention relates to a bracket forconcreteforms and, more particularly, to a concrete-form Wale bracketuseful in connection with the attachment of pairs of wales or Walers toa concrete form.

Wooden 'concrete-forms for the purpose of shaping and molding pouredconcrete into walls are commonly produced by attaching wooden boards onthe inside or opposing faces of sets of vertical studs that are spacedat intervals Ialong the horizontal area in which a wall is to beerected. In order to reinforce such concreteform walls, it is a commonpractice to attach to the outer faces of the vertical studs ortwo-by-fours a pair of horizontal wales. As the height of the wallincreases, the number of pairs of Wales is correspondingly increased ina modular system determined by the stresses involved and the size andheight of the Wall.

As is well know, it is also a common practice in concrete-form work toreuse the forms as often as practicable and to salvage the material usedin the forms in the best condition possible for uses elsewhere inbuilding construction. It has been a common criticism in lthe past thatmuch form lumber is damaged or destroyed in its dismantling for reuse.This is particularly true with respect to the horizontal wales sincethey are usually toenailed or spiked on to the concrete-forms and, whenthey are removed, the lumber is split and seriously damaged to such anextent that its reuse is often impossible.

An important object of this invention is the provision of a bracket forsupporting a pair of wales which brackets are easily installed byunskilled labor and will rigidly hold and space a pair of Wales and, atthe same time, may be quickly and easily removed for reuse, as Well'asfor reuse of the wales, without damage to the bracket, the wales, or theform stud.

Another and important object of the invention resides in providing asimply-formed unitary bracket structure that is rugged and normal evenunder conditions of hard use and reuse and which may be formed ofrelatively inexpensive material With relatively simple tools andrelatively unskilled mechanical labor.

These and other objects of this invention will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in view of the accompanying drawings showingthe preferred form of the invention and its mode of use.

in the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of a Wale bracket according to myinvention;

Figure 2 is a perspective View of a fragmentary portion of aconcrete-form and a fragmentary showing of a pair of wales attached tosaid form and supported in position by means of the Wale bracket ofFigure l; and

Figure 3 is a detailed vertical sectional view through a portion of aconcrete-form wall and its Wales showing a Wale bracket in positionsupporting and holding the members tightly to a concrete-form.

Referring to the views of the drawings, in Figure l I have shown a sheetmetal plate which has been formed n J-shape and comprises the Walebracket. The parts of the plate are indicated as follows: base wall 10has outstanding the main flange 12 and a retaining ange 14. Flanges 12and 14 both outstand from opposite edges of the base wall 10 in a commondirection. Bearing in mind that such a bracket as is shown in Figure lis commonly to be used in connection with a wooden timber that is knownas a tWo-by-four it will be apparent that the Width of the base wall 10is approximately one and onehalf inches, that being the standarddimension for an edge of a two-by-four. For convenience sake, the lengthof the Wall of the main flange 12 from its juncture with the base wall10 to its opposite edge is approximately the width of fa two-by-four inthe range of 31/2 inches.

The base wall 10 of the bracket is pierced and the VV-shaped opening 16and the sharply pointed prong 18 are formed. Prong 18 extends from thebase wall and is bent inward at right angles thereto to act as atemporary Vanchor in the installation of the bracket upon a form stud.

The main flange 12 is punch-cut to form the outstanding arms 20 and 22which are then. bent from theirV original position in the flange 12 sothat they are outstanding from the base Wall 10 at right angles thereto.Arms 20 and 22 are substantially identical and have round noses 24andare slightly undercut, as at 26, for a purpose later to be described.Nail holes 28, top and bottom, are also provided in the main ange 12.

In Figure 2 I have shown a fragment of a concreteform in which thereappears the upright studs 30 arranged in side-by-side relationship. Tothe inner common faces of the studs are attached the form boards, thesame being attached by means of nails (not shown). Disposed at rightangles to the studs 30 is a pair of wales 34, 36 that serve to makerigid and support the concreteforms against their being dislodged orwarped or wracked during the concrete pouring operation. The Walebrackets 8 are attached to the studs 3l? by being slipped over theexposed edges thereof. They are temporarily located by the installer whostrikes the bracket at its base Wall 10 in the neighborhood of the prong18, which is thus caused rto pierce the stud and to hold the brackettemporarily in place. The prong being flat and disposed across the grainof the stud, when it is driven into the Wood it will cut grain Ibut willnot split the lumber as would be the case were the prong aligned withthe wood grain. When a row of brackets S is thus mounted in properalignment along the studs, a carpenter or installer will proceed todrive a pair of nails through the nail holes 28 into the side of thestuds to eifect the nal anchor. Such a series of brackets 8 will ofcourse provide a series of outstanding arms 2) and 22 in properalignment. The lower Wale will probably be iirst installed by beingdisposed between the arms 20 and 22 so that it rests upon the lower arm22 in the manner disclosed in Figure 3. Its entry is facilitated by theundercut 26. Thereafter an upper Wale 34 is installed or located bybeing placed upon the upper series of arms 2i), also as shown in Figure3. 'Ihe supporting eect of the arms 20 and 22 is such that it is seldomif ever necessary to more than lightly nail the wales in place untilthey are finally anchored by the use of the Well-known tie rods 46.Wedges 42 are driven between the outer edges of the wales and the head44 of the tie rod to effect tightening. With but a slight degree of carean installer need not tack the wales in place since he may merelydeposit them upon the supporting arms of the bracket S and then proceedto install his concrete-form tie rods and tightening Wedges.

It should be very apparent that there are quite a few importantadvantages both in the design of this Wale bracket from the standpointof manufacture and from the standpoint of its use in the field. Animportant advantage in the manufacturing operation is that all of theparts of the wale bracket are formed from a single ysheet of steel orother suitable material without the necessity of addition of parts as byweldingriveting, or otherwise. Also it .is to be noted that all of themetal blank, from which the Vwale bracket is formed,-is .used either invforming the attaching and retaining anges or in providing theoutstanding supporting arms. It should also be quite `apparent thatthere is a further advantage residing in the great ,simplicity ofinstallation that is possiblerby the use of my Wale bracket.

While I have shown and disclosed-in Vthis specfcation and vthe drawingsa preferred Vform of the invention, it will be apparent to thoseVskilled in the art that modrications and variations may be effected.All -such Vthat arewvithin the'spiritand scope of Vthis invention as setforth in the following claim are included in this invention. A Y

rHaving thus described my invention, what I claimV is:

A bracket for supporting a vertically separated pair of wale timbersadjacent the faces of .upright s tuds of a concrete-form, comprisingzaJ-shaped sheet metal body, including a base wall having a main ange anda retaining flange commonly directed'on and extending -fullyalongopposite edges of said base wall, the width o f said base wall beingclosely proximate to the width of the normal exposed face of a commonconcrete-form stud and extending a substantial distance therealong, saidbase wall having a sharp horn struck therefrom and disposed between saidmain 4and retaining flanges, said main ange being disposed at rightangles to said base wall and having in .spaced relation to the upper andlower edges horizontally struck and bent therefrom a pair of armsextending on edge from the point of joinder between said base wall andsaid main ange at an angle approximately 90 to said hase wall, said armsbeing vertically spaced apart to horizontally receive a Wale timbermember therebetween.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,472,955 Behringer Nov. 6, 1923 1,629,899 Wistholz ,.g i. May' 24, 19272,144,242 Gill g r Jan. 17, 1939 2,192,521 Y McGaw 1 V- V Mar, 5, 194()2,236,616 4Bosco A 'Apr. 1, 1941 2,396,241 Besler Mar. 1 2, 1946`2,689,101 Dygert n r r.. Sept. 14,` 1954

